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makers / Edward Atkinson Hornel
Edward Atkinson Hornel
Biography
Educated in Edinburgh, and a pupil of Charles Verlat in the Antwerp Academy, returning to Scotland in 1885, his works were presented in the Edinburgh exhibition of 1883, with a one man show at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1890. Member of the International Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, and an associate of the New Gallery; he studied art in Japan after being influenced by the ‘Japonisme’ movement along with many other artists of this period.
In the late 1870s a group of young artists, known as the ‘Glasgow Boys’ gained recognition by challenging the classical and allegorical subject matter of the art establishment in Scotland, chiefly represented by the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. Principal members of this largely amorphous group included Joseph Crawhill, James Guthrie, George Henry and E. A. Hornell. Influenced by the social realism of the Barbizon School of French painters, the Boys exhibited in London and Europe throughout the 1880s and 1890s to great critical acclaim. As well as painting in Glasgow and its environs, they sought scenes of rural life and character in Kirkcudbright, Cockburnspath and other parts of Scotland.
Ironically, the social realism pioneered by the Boys came to represent the mainstream of Scottish art and the rebels of the late 19th century themselves became the establishment figures of the early 20th.
His work is represented in the Bradford, Leeds, and Glasgow Museums of art.
